Under current commercial models, a mobile network operator or MNO (also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier) is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell and deliver services to an end user including radio spectrum allocation, wireless network infrastructure, back haul infrastructure, billing, customer care and provisioning computer systems, and marketing, customer care, provisioning, and repair organizations.
A key-defining characteristic of a mobile network operator is that an MNO must own or control access to a radio spectrum license from a regulatory or government entity. A second key defining characteristic of an MNO is that an MNO must own or control the elements of the network infrastructure that are necessary to provide services to subscribers over the licensed spectrum.
A mobile network operator typically also has the necessary provisioning, billing, and customer care computer systems and the marketing, customer care, and engineering organizations needed to sell, deliver, and bill for services. However, an MNO can outsource any of these systems or functions and still be considered a mobile network operator.
In addition to obtaining revenue by offering retail services under its own brand, an MNO may also sell access to network services at wholesale rates to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) either directly or by means of a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE). An MVNE has a contract with an MNO to set up one or more MVNOs based on the MVNE infrastructure which is connected to the host MNO.
An MVNO (or mobile other licensed operator (MOLO) in the United Kingdom) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the radio spectrum or wireless network infrastructure over which the MNO provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently. An MVNO may use its own customer service and billing support systems, marketing, and sales personnel, or it may employ the services of an MVNE.
Most MVNOs are dependent on some elements of their host MNO, which makes changing host MNO difficult or even impossible.
An MVNO providing a full service runs its own infrastructure. It runs its own domestic interconnects and has a single MNO agreement to bring the wireless connection to its SIM (subscriber identity module) card equipped subscriber handsets. Those MVNO SIM cards are usually IMSIs (MCC/MNC (mobile country code/mobile network code)) from the host MNO to allow roaming into other networks/countries.
This current arrangement suffers from the disadvantage that when a subscriber calls from another country, the cost of the call is considerably higher than if they were to make the same call within the same country. The reason for the higher cost of a call initiated outside the user's home area is that it falls under a “roaming agreement”. Roaming is where a call is processed by the mobile network to which the caller does not belong, for a fee, which is passed back to the customer via their local mobile network operator. The high cost of “roaming” charges can be alleviated if a user possesses more than one SIM card. When the user moves to another country, they simply remove their old SIM card from their mobile telephone and replace it with one appropriate to the new country. This involves a change of phone number as soon as the SIM card is replaced. Another technique involves use of mobile telephones with more than one position for a SIM card. The telephone detects automatically by monitoring base station signals which country it is in, and switches to the appropriate SIM card. Also known are systems in which a single SIM card is programmed with data from several different mobile network operators, one per country. Again, the telephone detects which network operator is appropriate and switches to the appropriate data. These multiple SIM card or multiple data arrangements also suffer from the disadvantage that the identity of the mobile phone user changes as they cross national boundaries. Thus, a caller A can place a call to caller B while caller B is in a first country. If caller B then crosses the border and returns the call to caller A, the call appears to be coming from a different identity, whereas, in fact, it is the same person returning the call.